Nearly half of the United States is battling extreme temperatures. Surprisingly, the occurrence of a simple heat wave can expose boarding facilities and trainers to complaints and even lawsuits should a customer’s horse become ill due to extreme heat.

The Horse.com has published some good advice from veterinarians on caring for horses in extreme heat. The full articles can be found here and here, and a bullet point summary is below.

Those of you in Texas and elsewhere in the South already know this information. I am reposting it here because if a complaint or allegation ever arises over a horse that got sick due to heat at your barn, you should be able to ward off any potential liability if you have followed the guidelines generally accepted by veterinarians. 

Summary of guidelines from equine veterinarian Nancy Loving, DVM, via The Horse:

  • (Obviously) the most important thing to do is provide access to plenty of clean water
  • Add an electrolyte supplement to horses’ diets or put out salt blocks to promote drinking and restore the electrolyte balances disrupted by sweating
  • If a horse doesn’t drink well, provide a watery gruel of feed pellets vs. feeding them dry
  • Take measures to repel insects (fly sheets, fly spray, stall fans, fly strips, etc.) or encourage customers to do so if this is not a service you provide
  • If possible, keep horses in the pasture / turn out area vs. the barn during the hottest part of the day as long as there is access to shade and plenty of fresh water in the pasture / turn out
  • To avoid heat stress in horses being worked vigorously in hot weather, walk the horse periodically for 5 to 10 minutes during workouts
  • If you work a horse in the heat and think he might be susceptible to heat stress, cool him down gradually by hosing him down with cool water and scraping it away continuously until his chest feels cool to the touch and/or his temperature drops below 103.5 degrees

Horse operations that employ workers should also check out Russell Cawyer’s post on recommendations for employers who have employees working in extreme heat conditions.

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